The government that the Sangh Parivar worked hard to put in place cannot continue to pretend it does not see that the Parivar and its activists are putting the nation’s minorities on the edge. This is the import of what eminent jurist Fali S Nariman said when he delivered the annual lecture of the National Minorities Commission last Friday. The top echelons of the government must step in and voice their opposition to the divisive discourse being carried out on the ground by workers of the BJP and other Sangh Parivar organisations. This discourse, ably supplemented by those who see gains in fanning minority communalism, will eventually lead to violence and schism whose proportions no one wants to know or estimate.Hinduism is losing its benign face, said Nariman. Hinduism remains, at the popular level, the polycentric, eclectic, diverse system it has been, pursuing spirituality that can accommodate endless variety, dismissing the very idea of theological deviance. It is the attempt to forge a new Hindutva, which seeks to give its exclusivist and intolerant urges an organised, political form, that poses a danger to traditional Hinduism, to India’s genius for celebrating unity in diversity and, thereon, to the cohesion of 125 crore people as a nation. Even as pamphlets circulate against ‘love jihad’ and hate speeches stir up controversy, national-level leaders refuse to take cognisance of such activities and what they can lead up to, instead of squelching them through strong intervention.
It is unlikely that appeals to the most successful political leaders of Hindutva would help put brakes on it. Other political parties, civil society organisations, artists, writers, filmmakers and all those who have a stake in India living up to its constitutional vision of treating all citizens alike without discrimination need to act for unity and against division. Industry, with the greatest stake in stability that is a prerequisite for prosperity, must come out clearly against sectarianism and champion an inclusive India. The matter transcends party politics.